Synthesis, Characterization and Structural Study of the Two Ionic Hydrogen-Bonded Organic Frameworks Based on Sterically Crowded Bifunctional Moieties

Small bifunctional molecules are attractive for use as models in different areas of knowledge. How can their functional groups interact in solids? This is important to know for the prediction of the physical and chemical properties of the materials based on them. In this study, two new hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) based on sterically demanding molecular compounds, bis(1-hydroxy-2-methylpropane-2-aminium) sulfate (1) and 2-methyl-4-oxopentan-2-aminium hydrogen ethanedioate hydrate (2), were synthesized and fully characterized by means of FTIR and NMR spectroscopies, as well as by X-ray powder diffraction and thermogravimetric analyses. Their molecular and crystal structures were established through single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. It was shown that both compounds have a layered structure due to the formation of a 2D hydrogen-bonding network, the layers being linked by systematically arranged Van der Waals contacts between the methyl groups of organic cations. To unveil some dependencies between the chemical nature of bifunctional molecules and their solid structure, Hirschfeld surface (HS) analysis was carried out for HOFs 1, 2, and their known congeners 1-hydroxy-2-methylpropan-2-aminium hemicarbonate (3) and 1-hydroxy-2-methylpropan-2-aminium (1-hydroxy-2-methylpropan-2-yl) carbamate (4). HS was performed to quantify and visualize the close intermolecular atomic contacts in the crystal structures. It is clearly seen that H–H contacts make the highest contributions to the amino alcohol based compounds 1, 3 and 4, with a maximal value of 65.2% for compound 3 having CO32− as a counterion. A slightly lower contribution of H–H contacts (64.4%) was found for compound 4, in which the anionic part is represented by 1-hydroxy-2-methylpropan-2-yl carbamate. The significant contribution of the H–H contacts in the bifunctional moieties is due to the presence of a quaternary carbon atom with a short three-carbon chain.